Alyson Hannigan

After many years of work as a child and teen actress, Alyson has achieved recognition playing Willow on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its popular spin-off, Angel. She also had the notorious role of Michelle, the "band camp girl" in the American Pie movies.

SEX APPEAL

At 5'6" and 114 pounds, there's a lot of sexiness packed into Alyson Hannigan's lithe frame. She's an alumna of FHM's "100 Sexiest Women Poll," scoring as high as position No. 10. Not only that, but the age-old arbiter of sexiness, Play..boy, declared that in her sapphic role of Willow on Buffy, with her raunchy dialogue and on-screen girl-on-girl kisses, Alyson was "fueling the threesome fantasies of goth boys everywhere."

The secret to Alyson's sexiness lies in her exciting blend of the wholesome and the wanton. Her slight figure and cutie-pie looks (used to such advantage in movies like American Pie) seem at odds with her exuberant sexuality; for example, she once tried to have a chain-link headboard made for her bed (alas, it was too much trouble). But the opposite sides to her allure double her sexiness instead of canceling it out.

SUCCESS

Alyson Hannigan's accomplishments as an actress are laudable, though modest. Aside from her roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and American Pie, she has had to put up with bit parts in mostly forgettable movies and TV shows. A greater accomplishment is her perseverance during the lean years and her cool-headed appraisal of her most recent successes.

Naturally enough, Alyson's fame reflects her accomplishments. Though her name has yet to reach marquee status, her Buffy role has earned her a devoted, if limited, following. After several nominations for her portrayal of Willow, she finally picked up the Teen Choice Award as Favorite TV Sidekick in 2002. She graciously makes time to visit fan conventions and even has an action figure of herself in her Willow persona -- "Oh look, they gave me boobs," she dryly quipped on first seeing it. Anyone with her own action figure has to be at least moderately famous.

Alyson Hannigan Biography

Alyson Hannigan was born Allison Lee Hannigan on March 24, 1974, in Washington, D.C. Her parents -- Al, a truck driver, and Emilie, a real estate agent -- divorced in 1976, and Alyson moved to Atlanta. There she attended the Northside School of the Performing Arts, and her early interests included playing the clarinet and soccer. But Alyson was sometimes lonely, regretting that she was an only child.

doing the rounds

Hannigan's first showbiz gig was posing for a Delta ad at age four, and clearly acting was her chosen vocation from the beginning. Ads for McDonald's, Oreo and Six Flags are among her early acting credits. When Alyson was 11, she moved to Los Angeles with her family in order to help further her career.

However, stardom was slow in coming. Alyson's film debut came in the 1988 comedy, My Stepmother Is an Alien, playing Dan Aykroyd's daughter, Jessie Mills. She later had roles on such early-'90s TV fare as Roseanne, Picket Fences, Touched by an Angel, and Almost Home. In 1992, she graduated from North Hollywood High School, and went on to study psychology at California State University.

where there's a willow, there's a way

After a decade of obscurity, Hannigan's big break finally came in 1997. She was hired to replace another actress who had played the part of Willow Rosenberg in the pilot for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the new TV series based on the 1992 cult movie of the same name, with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role. As the series took off, so did Hannigan's career, and her character was vamped up (pardon the pun) accordingly. Alyson's "Willow" set the standard for bawdy, nerdy lesbian witches everywhere; so much so that she made appearances on Buffy's popular spin-off, Angel.

In 1999, Hannigan brought herself further attention for a role in the coming-of-age romp, American Pie. Though the movie's producers wanted her for the role of Heather (played by Mena Suvari), Alyson liked the part of Michelle Flaherty, the "band camp girl," because she thought it was funnier. She got the part, upped her profile, and returned for the American Pie sequel in 2001.

life after buffy

In the spring of 2003, Buffy the Vampire Slayer made its final curtain call. The end of the successful series was no surprise to its stars. "We've known for a while even though nothing has been said," Hannigan recently explained. "I think everybody is pretty much feeling it was a good run and it's time to go." As for future Angel appearances or a Willow spin-off, Alyson says it depends, but at the same time, she's anxious to move on.

Whatever the future may hold for her career, her personal life couldn't be better. After a much-publicized fling with Ginger Fish, the drummer for Marilyn Manson -- "just a phase," claims Alyson -- the actress started seeing fellow Angel co-star Alexis Denisof. In 2002, Denisof proposed, and the couple, who recently bought a house in Sacramento, CA, are planning to wed in the fall of 2003. Let's hope the house is a big one, since Alyson has a whole legion of pets, including two cats and three dogs.